City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 10, 2024
Agenda Item: 8.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Douglas Sloan, City Attorney, City Attorney's Office, Administration Subject: Introduction for First Reading an Ordinance Amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095 - Prohibition Against Camping in Public Places (Continued from 8/27/2024 and Public Input will be heard.) Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council consider:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
2. Introduce for first reading an Ordinance amending Santa Monica Municipal Code section 4.08.095 - Prohibition against camping in public places.
Summary
At its July 9, 2024, meeting, the City Council approved the following 16 Item:
Request of Mayor Pro Tem Negrete and Councilmember de la Torre that the City Attorney and City Manager return to City Council with an evaluation of the recent Grants Pass Supreme Court decision and provide options to amend the City's Municipal Code that are consistent with the ruling and the city’s commitment to clean and safe.
The Council is not required to take any action to comply with the Court decision.
However, there are some options Council may consider; each option may or may not be combined with providing more resources to enforce current or amended laws and/or provide more resources to mitigate homelessness:
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1. Take no action to amend the Municipal Code; or
2. Repeal changes made in 2022 to Santa Monica Municipal Code Section
4.08.095, Prohibition against camping in public places, to comply with the Ninth Circuit’s Grants Pass ruling; and/or
3. Give direction to continue to monitor what other cities are doing and return with additional options on this and related issues, which may include, but not be limited to, examination of opportunities for further amendments to the Municipal Code to address use of public spaces as part of the City’s wholistic approach to addressing homelessness. Should Council give direction to return at a future date, future recommendations will necessarily be the result of a collaboration between City staff and the City Attorney’s Office, including Santa Monica Police Department, the Housing and Human Services Division, and the City’s Criminal Unit to provide recommendations on what is feasible given available resources, and may dovetail with the public safety budget discussion in October.
Details of the options are as follows:
1. Take no action to amend the Municipal Code. The Code is legally compliant currently. It does expressly allow for limited sleeping on public property using blankets and pillows as necessary for comfort by those who are homeless. The City is currently very much engaged on the issues, and Santa Monica does not see the types of encampments that occur in other jurisdictions. Santa Monica is also on the forefront of new programs, such as the STEP Court diversion and services program, that is helping people to become housed and healthy.
2. Repeal the changes to the Municipal Code made in 2022 to comply with the Ninth Circuit Grants Pass ruling.
On November 15,2022, the City Council passed Ordinance Number 2728 (CCS), which made the following amendments to Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095, Prohibition against camping in public places, to comply with the Ninth Circuit’s Grants Pass ruling. In that ruling, the Ninth Circuit determined that those who are homeless 3 of 6
must be permitted to use certain items for comfort or survival while sleeping outdoors [underlined are additions, strikeouts are deletions]:
4.08.095 Prohibition against camping in public places.
(a) No person shall camp in a prohibited public place.
(b) For the purpose of this Section:
(1) “Camp” means to erect, maintain, or occupy a camp facility for the purpose of living accommodations.
(2) “Camp facility” may means the use of, settling, fixing in place, setting up, locating, or leaving behind in a prohibited public place contain any or a combination of the following: tents, huts, other temporary physical shelters, cots, beds, sleeping bags, or hammocks, or bedrolls.
(3) “Prohibited public place” means any of the following: the public parks listed in Section 4.55.020, public beaches, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier, public streets, public alleyways, public parking lots, public passageways, public rights-of-way, publicly-owned landscaped areas or greenbelts, public educational institutions including properties owned by the Santa MonicaMalibu Unified School District or Santa Monica College, or other governmentowned properties located within the City of Santa Monica. (c) The City Council may, by majority vote, establish one or more specified camping areas. Such camping areas, if any, may be located in prohibited public places, except that such camping areas shall not be located within public parks. (d) This ordinance does not prohibit those who are homeless from using sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and/or bedrolls while sleeping. This Section shall not take effect until March 1, 1995.
If there is a desire to repeal those changes, with some slight modifications the ordinance would read:
4.08.095 Prohibition against camping in public places.
(a) No person shall camp in a prohibited public place.
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(b) For the purpose of this Section:
(1) “Camp” means to erect, maintain, or occupy a camp facility for the purpose of living accommodations.
(2) “Camp facility” means the use of, settling, fixing in place, setting up, locating, or leaving behind in a prohibited public place any or a combination of the following: tents, huts, other temporary physical shelters, cots, beds, sleeping bags, or hammocks, or bedrolls.
(3) “Prohibited public place” means any of the following: the public parks listed in Section 4.55.020, public beaches, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier, public streets, public alleyways, public parking lots, public passageways, public rights-of-way, publicly-owned landscaped areas or greenbelts, public educational institutions including properties owned by the Santa MonicaMalibu Unified School District or Santa Monica College, or other governmentowned properties located within the City of Santa Monica. (c) The City Council may, by majority vote, establish one or more specified camping areas. Such camping areas, if any, may be located in prohibited public places, except that such camping areas shall not be located within public parks. (d) This ordinance does not prohibit those who are homeless from using sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and/or bedrolls while sleeping.
3. Give direction to continue to monitor what other cities are doing and return with additional legal options.
Many cities are re-examining options in light of the Court ruling. It may be beneficial to monitor these changes, then return to Council with additional information and potential options. Any such additional information would be the result of collaboration across all City departments that participate in the City’s wholistic approach to homelessness, and would include discussions about feasibility, expected outcomes, and resources.
Discussion
In Grants Pass v. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court held that regulating camping on public property does not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the 5 of 6
Eighth Amendment. The decision reversed the holding of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that camping prohibitions were “cruel and unusual punishment” if a person was “involuntarily” homeless. The Supreme Court held that legislative bodies, rather than courts, are the appropriate decision maker when determining criminal regulations and penalties for camping in public. The Court acknowledged legislative bodies have broad discretion in this regard. However, the Court also acknowledged that a number of Constitutional and common law protections still apply, for example competency to stand trial, a “necessity defense,” due process, and equal protection, among others. These protections ensure that everyone must be treated equally.
Whether someone falls asleep while sunbathing, a homeless person falls asleep in a park during the day, or a backpacker falls asleep while passing through, under the Constitution they must be treated equally.
The decision does not legally require the City to do anything differently, either in legislation or practices. There are many legal, resource, and reality considerations. The decision will not eliminate homelessness, but there are some nuanced changes that could be initiated.
Even if sleeping on public property could be completely outlawed, it will not end. Even if it is legally prohibited, resources must be available and there must be the will to cite or arrest, prosecute, then despite zero bail and even if a case makes it to court and the defendant appears, and a jury were to convict, there certainly are not resources nor the will to hold those convicted of low level crimes such as sleeping in public in the County jail. Until there are substantially greater resources available for mental health treatment, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and housing (shelter, transitional, and/or permanent housing), as people necessarily must sleep somewhere, the issue will not be resolved by this Court decision. One consideration, though, is that the legal process might assist in encouraging people to take advantage of available resources, but current laws do not allow people to be forced to accept shelter, and people can decline to accept shelter.
CEQA
Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. 6 of 6
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the proposed actions; however, stricter prohibitions and/or enhanced enforcement will require additional resources for several City departments.
Prepared By: Douglas Sloan, City Attorney
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. ORD-CAO-Camping 091024
B. Existing Santa Monica Ordinances
C. Written Comments